the Empathy List #143: Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Episode 1 of the podcast series, Knock at the Sky: A Creative Journey, in which Jeremy and I discuss beginnings.

Hello friend, Liz here.

Today, the first episode of Knock at the Sky: A Creative Journey is live, and you can listen in your podcast app of choice.

Jeremy and I are talking all about ideas and beginnings.

Where do artistic ideas come from? How do you begin a project? How do you decide when you have a good idea, good enough to spend more time on? And then, after you’ve settled on an idea, how do you find the form the work will take? In other words, how do you start making?

We also discuss a preoccupation of ours: the question of “voice” and “style”. How do you develop the writing voice and/or artistic style that makes a work unique to you amid this crowded landscape of makers?

We get specific about how the book project, Knock at the Sky, came into being, including the early discussions between Jeremy and I about collaboration.

Collage by Jeremy Grant, from Left to Right: “Chapter 1: First Contact,” “Chapter 2: Plural,” “Chapter 3: The Loaded Gun.” All artwork commissioned from Jeremy Grant for the book, Knock at the Sky: Seeking God in Genesis After Losing Faith in the Bible (Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2025). All rights reserved.

We’re also discussing the fine art collages that precede chapters 1, 2, and 3—first, I tell you what I see and guess at the meaning behind the paper, and then, Jer…